The Haunting of Alejandra

I was drawn to the premise and the combination of Mexican folklore and horror. I think the opening was strong. I really empathized with Alejandra and her struggle to navigate a broken marriage, motherhood, and depression. The glimpses of the creature haunting her were frightening. Unfortunately, I found the writing repetitive, and the dialogue felt stilted or oddly worded in the context of the conversation. The chapters alternated between Alejandra and her ancestors who have been victim to La Llorona. A lot of what they experienced and thought was repeated and written using the same phrases. I don't think these duplicates added anything to the story. I definitely didn't care about all of the characters the same way I started out caring for Alejandra. Some of the conversations sounded like a lecture on feminism rather than authentic discussions about frustrations or struggles the characters deal with. I really wanted to like this a lot more but I don't think it reached its potential.

There's not much creepier than La Llorona. Castro takes that idea and runs with it. The writing missed the mark at times, but the pace of the book kept me from dwelling on that too much. I probably could have read this in one sitting, but I really loved the intergenerational storytelling. I almost wanted more of the ancestors than Alejandra.

Rating: 4.06 leaves out of 5-Characters: 4/5 -Cover: 3/5-Story: 4/5-Writing: 4/5Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mythology, Retelling-Historical Fiction: 3.5/5 -Fantasy: 4/5-Horror: 1.5/5-Mythology: 5/5-Retelling: 3.5/5Type: EbookWorth?: YesHated Disliked Meh It Was Okay Liked Loved FavoritedWant to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.Wow okay... where to even begin? When I first started into the book I will admit the MC was annoying as hell then the story wasn't really connecting but the more I read the more I realized the message of it all. How generational curses can kill a family until someone stops it. This retelling took a Mexican mythology and used it to master a really good message. THOUGH I do have one problem with all of that. It seemed randomly put. We get the very start of the curse only for it to not start till 94 years later? That is the major issue I have with it all.

3.5

I like V. Castro. I enjoyed Queen of the Cicadas and Goddess of Filth. And that is why I found it so surprising to find the writing here choppy and weird. I almost DNF'D it.
It did greatly improve for me when we met Dr. Ortega. This is directly from my notes:
It kills me to give a female horror writer anything under a 4 star rating but this was problematic. Stiff, stilted language, repetition, too many things ripped me from the story. And the ending. She does something at the end a woman who wants custody of her children would never, ever do.

This is my favorite book of 2023 so far.

Alejandra is a wife and a mother and is seriously struggling. She feels as though she has no identity other than those two things and she isn't even good at them. As her depression gets deeper she starts to see a ghostly figure of a woman in white - La Llorona. After deciding to get therapy this entity starts wreaking havoc on not only her but her children. This leads Alejandra to connect more with her birth mother who gave her up at birth and to learn more about her family history. She wants to learn more about this woman in white and how she can get rid of her for good.

This book is the epitome of how much heart horror can have. To start, Alejandra is such a beautiful, flawed character. I am not married and have no children but as someone who has depression I felt her agony. I have many friends who have felt the way she felt about their own partners and children and I know that Alejandra's struggle will resonate with so many. Yet the strength and love she has for her children will have you cheering for her the whole way through the book.

I also loved the exploration of her family history and heritage. Alejandra is a woman that was adopted and raised by people that had no ties to her heritage which made her feel even more lost in her identity. Getting to go with her has she learned and connected with her family and the strength it gave her had me crying. It was truly beautiful seeing her and the women of her family line experience the very real emotions that come with being human but specifically Mexican American women.

Finally, La Llorona is terrifying. I know enough about this legend and this take on it was so unique. The way that the moments of horror were paced seriously left me on edge. This book is told through multiple POV's and multiple timelines that made the story unfold in a way that made it hard to put the book down. I highly recommend this book!